IBM: Would you let me choose an X40 with touchpad?

Please bear with my long text as I am not a native English speaker. My point is simple: I hate the Thinkpad trackpoint, and the stubbornness with which IBM kept using the track point design.

I have been a thinkpad user since the intel 486 age. I think thinkpad is the best, not because of its trackpoint pointing device, but because of its keyboard and internal design. I never like the trackpoint and used external mouse most of the time. But now as a laptop user frequently on the road, trackpoint becomes my only pointing device. My user experience is that trackpoint is ergonomically inferior to the touchpad design. It is true that you don’t have to leave your hand from the keyboard area when using the trackpoint. But it is less intuitive to use for new users. And, more importanly, you have to apply force to use it and this in time causes you serious finger fatigue and even sores that you won’t experience in using a touchpad, even if you set the sensitivity of the trackpoint to the maximum. This is a huge disadvantage that clearly outweighs its advantage. It is because of this reason that I eventually decided to stay away from the X40 ultra portable, which is otherwise a superior tool for travelers.

I know there are people out there who love the thinkpad trackpoint design. But I just can’t understand them. Perhaps trackpoint makes a thinkpad look unique, but it doesn’t make it better. These guys insist upon track point design, and don’t even tolerate a dual pointing device design (trackpoint + touchpad). So when thinkpad T30 was out, they protested. I don’t know how influential these guys are, but the fact is that they have strong presence in many thinkpad user forums, especially in Japan (where IBM designs the thinkpad lines). It seemed that IBM yielded to these protests and came out with some trackpoint-only models. When T40 was out, IBM continued this practice. In order to make easy changing from a dual pointing device to trackpoint only, the T40’s palmrest is separate from the keyboard bezel. The result is disastrous, as users of T40 frequently find that the left side of the palmrest above the PC Card slot is flimsy and the bottom under the cursor keys is loose, which harmed the thinkpad keyboard’s good reputation. When it came to the smaller thinkpad models like x30 and x40, since there was no enough room on the palmrest for a dual pointing device, IBM chose trackpoint instead of touchpad.

What a pity of IBM’s business sense! Did it not know that laptop users who prefer touchpad are much more in number than those die-hard trackpoint fans? The rule in the computer business is simple: either stay mainstreamed or get kicked out. If those trackpoint fans have enough purchasing power to sustain your laptop business, that is fine. Otherwise, please listen to what general users prefer: Only use a dual pointing device when possible. If in a smaller model there is no room for dual pointing device, use a touchpad instead of trackpoint. Or, if you believe that the royalty of those die-hard trackpoint fans is really important, give them a trackpoint WITHOUT BUTTONS, like the Fujitsu S7010 model, and always ensure that there is enough room on the palmrest of any thinkpad model for a touchpad!

 

to each his own, we all like different things for different reasons and that's what makes choosing a notebook a personal decision and not just a "tell me what the best notebook is" question. I love the trackpoint design, it's just so natural in use for me. But I have used IBM notebooks for a long time so maybe I'm just adjusted.

 

While this isn't what you want to hear...

There are ways to make a TrackPoint better.

I can't stand a slow TrackPoint, so the first thing I do is go into the TrackPoint tab of Mouse Properties, and set it to "Light Touch". Then, I go back to the Motion tab, and crank up the speed. It helps a lot.

Second, you could have been using one with a worn out Classic Dome cap. Try the Soft Dome some time.

Otherwise, go get yourself something like a Dell Latitude X1.

 

Was it really necessary to resurrect a year-and-a-half old thread, bhtooefr, started by some obnoxious trackpoint hater that doesn't have a clue?

P.S. Sorry for being harsh on the guy, but the style of his post makes him deserve it.

 

Oh, didn't look at the date - sorry!

It was in the related threads, and I just had to respond... I thought that the related threads would be fairly recent, guess these were a little old...

 

The trackpoint is one of the reasons why i love Thinkpads.

 

he must hate the trackpoint!... it depends on individual. I love thinkpad and both the pointing devices. I use which ever is comfortable at that point. But everyone's not alike... Ibm has to have a choice to choose them in ultra portable models. Even 11.1" of Vaio has got a touchpad where as thinkpad is 12.1"...

 

try playing with the settings and replacing a better dome for your trackpoint.

the advantage of the trackpoint is that your fingers are always close to the keys of the keyboard, meaning you don't have to move much whilst you navigate.

To each their own. I disable the touchpad and use trackpoint, but I do seem to find most non-thinkpad users tend to go for the touchpad when they use my computer.,